Negotiation game mon finzen model 1

For more info, please contact Nataraja Upadhya at [email protected] Page 1

Negotiation Game – MonFinZen-Model-1 (15 Apr 2013)

A Background

Designed and played this simple yet very effective game for a recent summer workshop. It has been

played three different times since then, once with 4 teams, next with 3 teams and then with 6 teams. In

each instance, there was a clear winner.

Please feel free to use this game with modifications if necessary, but please do not claim this as your

own! For more details, you may please contact Nataraja Upadhya at [email protected]

B Objective

Teach the participants the art and science of negotiations through a real experience of negotiations

while playing a simple game that is an experience of fun and learning excitement.

C Approach

1. Divide the participants to a minimum of three or more teams.

2. Assign each team a fixed number (say 10) of objects of same color; the color varies from team to

team. Let us call the assigned colors as “native” colors.

3. Each team is required to interact with the other teams and exchange the objects assigned to

them with that of different color from the other teams.

4. At the end of all interactions, each team is given points per the following rules

a. No point at all for the remaining objects of native colors.

b. One point each for the objects collected from other teams in exchange.

c. One additional bonus point for each of the differential objects when a team collects

objects of same color more than that of the team for which the specific color was

assigned as native. The team which has less of the native colors compared to any

specific other team, will similarly attract negative mark for the differential.

d. A team can collect any number of bonus or penalty points with respect to its collection

of native colors against other teams.

e. For example, if team A was assigned 10 Green colors and ended with only 2 of them

while team B collected 5 of them and team C collected 3 of them, then the team B

collects 5 marks for the Green and additional 3 bonus points for having 3 extra objects

than team A for which Green was assigned as its native color. Team C collects 3 points

for the Green and also an additional 1 bonus point for having one more Green than

team A. Team A in this case will collect 3 penalty points due to team B and 1 penalty

point due to team C.

5. Track the results of each team at the end of each negotiation interaction to ensure audit and

data for debriefing.

6. Clearly debrief the teams on the objectives and winning strategy so that each team works very

hard to win.


7. Observe both the positive and negative behaviors of the teams and individuals during the

interactions to highlight the art and science of negotiations during the debriefing post game.

Highlight the best practices using the actual game experience.

8. Give at least one chance for each team to interact with every other team.

9. Keep the negotiation interaction private between the two teams. Use separate room for each

parallel interaction. The scoring observer needs to remain silent to ensure neutral influence on

the results of the negotiations.

10. Ask the teams not to reveal the status of their holdings with the other teams. Encourage all the

teams to share espionage information of other teams during interaction and at the same time,

warn them not to trust everything being said during the interactions.

11. If there is no clear winner after stipulated number of rounds, add an extra round of interactions

with or without the debriefing as to the current scoring status of each team.

D Case Study Sample

4 teams (Team A, Team B, Team C team D) were assigned the following colors. Each was given 10

objects of specific assigned colors.

Team A – 10 Yellow (10Y)

Team B – 10 Green (10G)

Team C – 10 Orange (10O)

Team D – 10 Black (10B)

Each team was asked to interact with the other teams for exchange. Each round of exchange totally

required 3 interactions across 4 teams. Totally 3 rounds of exchanges (9 interactions total) were

conducted to ensure ample negotiation experience for each team.

The negotiations interactions occurred privately in three distinct rooms with an observer to note the

results of interactions. Please note that the teams needed some practice to catch up with the winning

strategy.

The status of collections after each interaction in Round 1 is as follows:

Round 1 Interaction 1 Interaction 2 Interaction 3

Team A Y8G2

(With Team B)

Y5G2O2B1

(With Team C)

Y4G2O2B2

(With Team D)

Team B Y2G8

(With Team A)

Y2G7B1

(With Team D)

Y1G7O1B1

(With Team C)

Team C O8B2

(With Team D)

Y3O6B1

(With Team A)

Y4O5B1

(With Team B)

Team D O2B8

(With Team C)

G1O2B7

(With Team B)

Y1G1O2B6

(With Team A)


The native colors are shown in Bold. Please note that the Team A has been aggressive in collecting

colors from other teams.



Team A Y4G2O2B2 (No Deal)

(With Team C)

Y3G2O2B3

(With Team D)

Y4G2O1B3

(With Team B)

Team B Y1G6O2B1

(With Team D)

Y1G5O3B1

(With Team C)

G5O4B1

(With Team A)

Team C Y4O5B1 (No Deal)

(With Team A)

Y4G1O4B1

(With Team B)

Y5O5

(With Team D)

Team D Y1G2O1B6

(With Team B)

Y2G2O1B5

(With Team A)

Y1G3B6

(With Team C)

Please note that the Team A remains to be more aggressive in collecting colors from other teams.

Please note that one interaction went with no deal.



Team A Y4G2O1B3 (No deal)

(With Team C)

Y4G1B5

(With Team B)

Y4B6

(With Team D)

Team B G4O4B2

(With Team D)

G5O5

(With Team A)

G5O5 (No deal)

(With Team C)

Team C Y5O5 (No deal)

(With Team A)

Y5O5 (No deal)

(With Team D)

Y5O5 (No deal)

(With Team B)

Team D Y1G4B5

(With Team B)

Y1G4B5 (No deal)

(With Team C)

Y1G5B4

(With Team A)

Please note that three interactions went with no deal.

The results at the end of Round 3 are as follows:

Results Scoring Details Total Score Rank

Team A 6 for nonnative colors + 2 Bonus over Team D - 1 Penalty

over Team C

7 First; Winner!

Team B 5 for nonnative colors + No Bonus – No Penalty 5 Third

Team C 5 for nonnative colors + 1 Bonus over Team A – No Penalty 6 Second

Team D 6 for nonnative colors + No Bonus – 2 Penalty over Team A 4 Last

E Conclusions

1. This game is very simple to understand and play.

2. The winning strategy requires balancing aggression with defense here. It also requires

formulation of a winning strategy to target a particularly one team for its native colors collection

and at the same time a level of deception not to reveal its strategy and target.


3. The learning experience is significant while the joy and excitement prevails throughout the

game.

4. Recommend to play this game first, then debrief the game, spot the learning points, and only

then expand on the theory, winning techniques and losing behaviors.

5. After the class is fully educated on the art and science of negotiations, play the game again, and

debrief on the progress of teams due to learning and the challenges that still remain due to

behavioral issues and competition being tougher now!

6. As part of debriefing, have the teams do their debriefing first followed by the coach adding

additional observations and learning missed by the teams.

Documents

Negotiation game mon finzen model 1